Betsy Bird's Blog, page 192

Review of the Day: I Hate Everyone by Naomi Danis

I Hate Everyone
By Naomi Danis
Illustrated by Cinta Arribas
POW! (a division of powerhouse)
$17.99
ISBN: 978-1-576870874-3
Ages 4-7
On shelves now

Childhood is riddled with contradictions. Wait. No. Scrap that thought. Let’s rewrite it slightly. Childhood’s fine it’s the CHILDREN that are riddled with contradictions. In the same breath a child can scream that they hate you and yet want a hug so badly they shake with the need. New parents will often find themselves flummoxed with these...

Review of the Day: I Hate Everyone by Naomi Davis

I Hate Everyone
By Naomi Danis
Illustrated by Cinta Arribas
POW! (a division of powerhouse)
$17.99
ISBN: 978-1-576870874-3
Ages 4-7
On shelves now

Childhood is riddled with contradictions. Wait. No. Scrap that thought. Let’s rewrite it slightly. Childhood’s fine it’s the CHILDREN that are riddled with contradictions. In the same breath a child can scream that they hate you and yet want a hug so badly they shake with the need. New parents will often find themselves flummoxed with these...

Cover Reveal: Right As Rain by Lindsey Stoddard

*sniff sniff*

Do you smell that? That’s 2019. And it’s right around the corner. And by “right around the corner” I mean “technically six months away but what-the-heck let’s do a cover reveal for a 2019 book today anyway”.

So this is a bit of a thrill. I don’t usually do cover reveals quite this far in advance. Usually the folks making the books like to hit that merry sweet spot where it isn’t too far in the future (when people might forget about it) and not too close to the release (when it’s...

Pitching a Perfect Game: In Praise of the Ideal Summer Reading List

When it comes to summer reading lists handed out by figures of authority, I am of two minds. On the one hand I believe that over the summer children should darned well be allowed to read whatever they want. I am haunted by a memory of a summer when a father walked into the Jefferson Market Library Branch when I was but a wee slip of a lass. His reluctant 9-year-old trudged behind and the dad handed him Treasure Island because he wanted his son to be a reader. It was one of those moments when...

Border Crossing in Children’s Literature: A Consideration of the Second International Symposium for Children’s Literature & Fourth U.S.-China Symposium for Children’s Literature

When asked to speak at a conference I recommend throwing caution to the wind and going for the longest title imaginable. Thus did I speak at Princeton this past Thursday as part of the Second International Symposium for Children’s Literature & Fourth U.S.-China Symposium for Children’s Literature hosted by the Cotsen Children’s Library (Princeton University Library). My speech’s title? Deep breath now:

“Bypassing the Gatekeepers in an Age of Obsolescence: How the the Democratization of the On...

Press Release Fun: The Debut of the 2018 Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards

As you may have heard, there’s a new award in town. A comic award, and it’s fascinating. Called the Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards, a wide range of different types of judges working, in some fashion, with comics came together to decide on the 2018 winners. You can see the final results here, but let’s linger on some of the lovely elements to this award. First off, check out this video on the creation of the award statue:

And next, here’s some background information the awards that w...

Newbery/Caldecott 2019: The Summer Prediction Edition

In just a week’s time librarians will be leaving their homes and gathering in New Orleans for the American Library Association’s Annual Conference. While there, they will visit the convention floor where publishers will present a wide array of f&gs and galleys of the upcoming children’s books of 2018. So many lovely links to literature for young readers. All the more appropriate then that I give you a peek at some of the titles that may or may not be worthy of your notice. We’re halfway throu...

Review of the Day: Beavers – The Superpower Field Guide by Rachel Poliquin and Nicholas John Frith

Beavers: The Superpower Field Guide
By Rachel Poliquin
Illustrated by Nicholas John Frith
$18.99
ISBN: 9780544949874
Ages 9-12
On shelves December 4th

Here, sit down a sec. I wanna tell you a story about this beaver I once knew. So I’m at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, which, if anyone asks, is my favorite zoo. I know it’s not as big and impressive as some of the others out there, but its doable, right? First off, it’s free and then if you want to you can see all kinds of great animal...

Trump or Not? The Presidency and Current Children’s Literature

I was reading the Social Justice Books post Scholastic Tells Children: Trump is Great yesterday, which makes a close and thorough examination of a new Scholastic Rookie Biography of the current sitting president. While looking at it, the piece got me to thinking about other relatively children’s books which have included Donald Trump in some way. The world of children’s literature has a tendency to include him in some form on the written page. This makes sense to me, but I have a problem. Not...

Deep Diving Into Accuracy and Art: A Video Premiere of Barbara McClintock Discussing Nothing Stopped Sophie

I have this terrible habit of too-early enthusiasm. I frequently tell myself that reviewing a book too early is a bad thing. It invites the reading public to forget about the book before its publication date, after all. But there are times when a book is so good that I just can’t contain myself. Such was the case with Cheryl Bardoe and Barbara McClintock’s Nothing Stopped Sophie: The Story of the Unshakable Mathematician Sophie Germain. I reviewed it in January of this year, a full half a yea...